Drawn in by the appeal of zero sugar and zero calories, about one in five Americans enjoy a diet soda every single day.¹ While a regular can of soda has around 140 calories and 39 grams of sugar, diet soda uses artificial sweeteners to offer its drinkers a “healthier alternative”. However, does having “zero” on the label really make diet soda a healthier choice?

In a world where you only have these two options, the answer is yes. But, thankfully, we don’t live in that world. That’s because today, you have access to functional sodas like OLIPOP.

But what about OLIPOP makes it different from diet soda? Join us as we tackle the history of diet soda and how our pop at OLIPOP manages to fulfill the promise that diet soda never could.

Why Were Diet Sodas Created?

Soda got its start back in the 1700s as a medicinal health tonic designed to cure all sorts of ailments. But as time went on, soda makers started adding ingredients like high fructose corn syrup, cane sugar, caramel coloring, and chemical preservatives to boost flavor and extend shelf life. As a result, what once was a health tonic turned into something with the opposite effect.

By the 1940s, concerns over sugar-filled sodas grew.² Discoveries of artificial sweeteners like saccharin (1897), cyclamate (1937), and aspartame (1965) led to the introduction of diet sodas in the 1950s.³

The first diet soda, No-Cal (1952), used the now-banned cyclamate for a sugar-free option aimed at those with health concerns. Soon after, Diet Rite launched in 1958. Early diet sodas were sold alongside medicines in pharmacies, echoing their health-focused origins.⁴

However, these brands soon marketed themselves as 'diet' drinks, shifting their focus to weight loss.⁵ Today, 'diet culture' is still a major marketing force, though brands like Coke Zero now aim for a broader audience. Despite the new branding, Coke Zero contains nearly the same ingredients as Diet Coke.⁶

Rather than creating genuinely healthier alternatives, big soda companies continue promoting 'zero sugar' products, filled with artificial ingredients that offer little nutritional value. 

Why Was OLIPOP Created?

This question about the nutritional value (or lack thereof) of soda stuck with our OLIPOP co-founders, Ben and David. They refused to believe that sugar and artificial sweeteners were the only two options. There had to be another way to satisfy your sweet tooth without throwing off your gut or drinking more than your daily limit of sugar in one can.

In their search for research-backed ingredients, they put together a team of some of the top microbiome researchers in the world. What resulted was OLIPOP, a functional and delicious soda that combines the rich, sweet, and bubbly flavors you know and love with the complex nutrients you need. In other words, it tastes just like the soda you grew up sipping, but with the added benefit of microbiome and digestive health support.

At OLIPOP we’re charging into the future by looking at the past and taking soda back to its original iteration: a healthy and delicious drink. We’ve taken a drink traditionally dominated by processed sugar and artificial ingredients and made it into a high-fiber and tasty experience. That’s because at OLIPOP we know that life is too short to load up on unnecessary sugar and drink a soda with zero nutrition. But it’s also too short not to satisfy your sweet cravings.

But what makes us so different from a can of diet soda? Let’s dive in to find out:

Diet Soda vs. OLIPOP: Calories

Diet Soda

Artificial sweeteners like aspartame, sucralose, and acesulfame-K give diet soda its sweet taste with none of the calories. However, this is because the body can't metabolize them and they're anywhere from 200 to 600 times sweeter than table sugar. This makes them a popular zero-calorie or low-calorie sugar alternative, but renders them almost completely useless with regards to nutrition.

Diet or “zero sugar” sodas are of course quick to advertise “zero calories” as a positive benefit of drinking their beverage due to a toxic diet culture equating the measurement of calories to the measurement of health. But if something has zero calories it’s quite literally offering zero nutritional value. There is nothing healthy about a diet soda because there is nothing nutritional about a diet soda. 

OLIPOP

So instead of focusing on the number of calories, let’s focus on the quality of those calories. OLIPOP, for example, has 35 to 50 calories in every can. But those calories come from our nutritious lineup of ingredients such as our OLISMART in-house proprietary blend of plant fibers and prebiotics. So instead of sipping on zero nutrition, with OLIPOP, you’re enjoying a sip of dietary fiber every time you pop open a can.

Diet Soda vs. OLIPOP: Ingredients

Diet Soda

So what exactly are you putting in your body every time you throw back a can of diet soda? Well, unlike OLIPOP, most soda companies aren’t partnering with leading microbiome researchers and spending years formulating a functional beverage that tastes great. And a quick look at the back label of the leading brands of diet soda confirms this.

Here are common ingredients you’ll find in a can of diet soda: 

• Carbonated water
• Caramel color
• Aspartame
• Phosphoric acid
• Potassium benzoate
• Natural flavors
• Citric acid
• Caffeine

As evidenced by these made-in-a-lab-sounding ingredients, there is nothing nutritive about a diet soda. The ingredients above are either providing a sweet flavor or preservatives helping to extend shelf life. There is not one product in there that any health expert would deem “healthy”.

OLIPOP

Now let’s take a look at the back label of our OLIPOP Vintage Cola for comparison. Here are the ingredients you’ll find:

• Carbonated water
• OLISMART (a unique blend of botanicals, plant fibers, and prebiotics)
• Cassava root syrup
• Apple juice concentrate
• Lime juice
• Natural cola flavor
• Alpha galangal root
• Stevia leaf
• Himalayan pink salt
• Green tea caffeine
• Natural vanilla flavor
• Natural caramel flavor
• Cinnamon

As you can see, we don’t use high fructose corn syrup or artificial sweeteners (or artificial anything for that matter!) to give it that soda-sweet taste. Our squad of delicious soda flavors has no more than 5g of added sugar per can and features natural sweeteners like cassava root syrup, sweet birch, real fruit juice, and stevia.

Take a peek inside the can to learn more about our amazing lineup of OLIPOP ingredients.

Diet Soda vs. OLIPOP: Function

Diet Soda

Diet soda entered the market advertised as the healthier, sugar-free alternative to soda. It came with the promise that it would help you limit your sugar intake. And while diet soda does help limit your soda sugar intake it doesn’t “solve” the sugar addiction at the heart of so many of our health problems. Research indicates that increased artificial sweetener intake, due to its potency, can actually make you crave sweet things even more!⁷

And some research shows that there is a relationship between the consumption of artificial sweeteners found in diet soda, and a higher risk of certain health outcomes like type 2 diabetes or heart conditions like heart attacks and high blood pressure.^{8 9 10}

Take this 19-year study on over 450,000 individuals across Europe as an example. Researchers found that those regularly consuming either sugar-sweetened or artificially sweetened sodas were at a higher risk of mortality than those who didn’t drink any soda at all.¹¹

If you head to our blog Top 4 Healthy Alternatives to Diet Soda we offer a few theories from the scientific community on why diet soda could be having such a negative effect.

Artificial sweeteners could also alter your gut microbiota and lead to glucose intolerance. This could increase your risk of several metabolic health concerns.^{8 12 13} Some of the most popular artificial sweeteners used in diet sodas, like saccharin, acesulfame-K, and sucralose, are among the biggest culprits when it comes to the possible alteration of your gut microbiota.

While we need more research to fully understand these long-term effects, these early studies don’t exactly paint the picture of the “healthy alternative” that soda brands want you to believe.

For more information on artificial sweeteners, check out our blog post on Health Facts on Sugary Soda: The Truth about Artificial Sweeteners.

OLIPOP

On the other hand, we formulated OLIPOP to make it easier for people to reach adequate daily fiber intake and make positive steps to support their digestive health. All by crafting a soda that’s easy to enjoy and share.

Thanks to over fifteen years of research, our functional formula combines novel microbiome and digestive health science with the knowledge of top researchers around the world. Results from our in-vitro studies, conducted with Purdue University and Baylor College of Medicine, reveal OLIPOP's ability to increase diversity, promote good bacteria, and facilitate short-chain fatty acid production in the microbiome.

As the fastest-growing functional beverage in the United States, OLIPOP has contributed more than 75 million grams of prebiotic fiber to the American diet. And counting!

OLIPOP: The Functional Soda Alternative

Diet soda focuses on the elimination of sugar and calories. At OLIPOP, we focus on the addition of functional ingredients. We support your microbiome and your digestive health while creating a healthy sweet taste that even a sugar-loaded soda can’t compete with.

So when you’re ready to replace your diet soda with a more delicious and healthier alternative, we’ll be here waiting for you!

Want to learn more about all the reasons why OLIPOP can be your functional soda alternative? Check out OLIPOP Digest for all the latest resources, research, and information.

Sources

1. Fakhouri, Tala H.I., et al. Consumption of Diet Drinks in the United States, 2009‒2010. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 6 Nov. 2015, www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db109.htm.
2. Bellis, Mary. (2020, August 26). The Troubled History of Soda Pop and Carbonated Beverages. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/introduction-to-soda-pop-1992433
3. Gershenson, G. (2017, February 23). A Brief and Bizarre History of Artificial Sweeteners. Saveur. https://www.saveur.com/artificial-sweeteners/
4. LaBarre, Suzanne. A Brief History of Tab, the Iconic Diet Soda That’s Headed to the Graveyard. Fast Company, 30 Nov. 2020, https://www.fastcompany.com/90580210/a-brief-history-of-tab-the-iconic-diet-soda-thats-headed-to-the-graveyard.
5. Wiener-Bronner, Danielle. ‘Diet’ Soda Is Disappearing from Store Shelves. CNN, 14 Dec. 2021, https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/14/business-food/diet-soda-zero-sugar/index.html.
6. Thompson, Derek. “Diet Coke’s Moment of Panic.” The Atlantic, 14 Jan. 2018, https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2018/01/diet-coke-new-can/550478/.
7. Vani Hari, Feeding You Lies: How to Unravel the Food Industry’s Playbook and Reclaim Your Health (Hay House Inc, 2019).
8. “Is Diet Soda Bad for You? Everything You Need to Know.” Medical News Today, Healthline Media, 31 July 2019, www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/325919.
9. Cheng Chen, “Comment to ‘Sugar-Sweetened Beverage and Diet Soda Consumption and the 7-Year Risk for Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Middle-Aged Japanese Men,’” European Journal of Nutrition 53, no. 4 (April 9, 2014): 1135–1135, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-014-0680-5
10. McMillen, Matt. “Is Drinking Diet Soda a Health Risk?” Edited by Brunilda Nazario, WebMD, WebMD, 5 May 2017, www.webmd.com/diet/news/20170505/diet-soda-health-risks.
11. Mullee, A., Romaguera, D., Pearson-Stuttard, J., Viallon, V., Stepien, M., Freisling, H., Fagherazzi, G., Mancini, F. R., Boutron-Ruault, M. C., Kühn, T., Kaaks, R., Boeing, H., Aleksandrova, K., Tjønneland, A., Halkjær, J., Overvad, K., Weiderpass, E., Skeie, G., Parr, C. L., . . . Murphy, N. (2019). Association Between Soft Drink Consumption and Mortality in 10 European Countries. JAMA Internal Medicine, 179(11), 1479. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamainternmed.2019.2478
12. Bian, X., Chi, L., Gao, B., Tu, P., Ru, H., & Lu, K. (2017). The artificial sweetener acesulfame potassium affects the gut microbiome and body weight gain in CD-1 mice. PLOS ONE, 12(6), e0178426. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0178426
13. Nettleton, J. E., Reimer, R. A., & Shearer, J. (2016). Reshaping the gut microbiota: Impact of low calorie sweeteners and the link to insulin resistance? Physiology & Behavior, 164, 488–493. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2016.04.029